cranky from the heat

I guess I'm officially back on the home turf now. Carlos woke up much earlier than I did, as he usually does and went off to breakfast while I slept in for another couple of hours. (It was a very good dream.) I decided to skip breakfast - the buffet was okay, but $13 is a little stiff for something not noticeably better than the breakfast at the Sheraton Bloomington. Well, okay, the Canaan Valley Resort did offer grits along with biscuits & gravy, but it's still not worth $13. I wound up doing lunch in a diner along WV 28 between Cabins and Seneca Rocks, and although I paid $15 for it, the diner lunch was definitely better. Sweet potato fries, BBQ pork sandwich, and homemade blackberry cobbler a la mode. Mmmmm.

The drive was definitely prettier in the daylight than it would have been after dusk. Awesome mountain views, cute little hollows, and signs all over the place proclaiming 9% grades uphill and 10% downhill with a lot of 25 mph curves. Careful now. On the other hand, about the time I passed through Petersburg it was 97 degrees downtown and 100 in Mooresfield. It felt a LOT hotter (though no more humid) than the 91-94 I'd dealt with easily in Dayton. The heat didn't let up when I got down into the Shenandoah Valley proper and started buzzing along first I-81 and then I-66, and I was out of fluids, so I pulled off at the first exit from 66 and stopped at a McDonald's for Diet Coke, a refill of my water bottle, wi-fi ($2.95/2 hours, unfortunately) and making a couple of calls now that I can actually make and get phone calls again.

On the agenda: lunch with P (a salad or maybe just a soda for me) and dinner with RS. I may not actually get to the ancestral homestead until tomorrow, but we'll see.

cranky from the heat

I guess I'm officially back on the home turf now. Carlos woke up much earlier than I did, as he usually does and went off to breakfast while I slept in for another couple of hours. (It was a very good dream.) I decided to skip breakfast - the buffet was okay, but $13 is a little stiff for something not noticeably better than the breakfast at the Sheraton Bloomington. Well, okay, the Canaan Valley Resort did offer grits along with biscuits & gravy, but it's still not worth $13. I wound up doing lunch in a diner along WV 28 between Cabins and Seneca Rocks, and although I paid $15 for it, the diner lunch was definitely better. Sweet potato fries, BBQ pork sandwich, and homemade blackberry cobbler a la mode. Mmmmm.

The drive was definitely prettier in the daylight than it would have been after dusk. Awesome mountain views, cute little hollows, and signs all over the place proclaiming 9% grades uphill and 10% downhill with a lot of 25 mph curves. Careful now. On the other hand, about the time I passed through Petersburg it was 97 degrees downtown and 100 in Mooresfield. It felt a LOT hotter (though no more humid) than the 91-94 I'd dealt with easily in Dayton. The heat didn't let up when I got down into the Shenandoah Valley proper and started buzzing along first I-81 and then I-66, and I was out of fluids, so I pulled off at the first exit from 66 and stopped at a McDonald's for Diet Coke, a refill of my water bottle, wi-fi ($2.95/2 hours, unfortunately) and making a couple of calls now that I can actually make and get phone calls again.

On the agenda: lunch with P (a salad or maybe just a soda for me) and dinner with RS. I may not actually get to the ancestral homestead until tomorrow, but we'll see.

I HAVE RETURNED.

*takes off MacArthur metamask*

Well...I'm in Virginia, laying over for a couple of nights at the Hampton Inn south of Dulles, and about to start hunting for an apartment and a job after touching base with family and friends. The apartment is the first priority - can't really do a lot of the things I need to do without a permanent address, and I have enough of a financial cushion that I can go for a while without a full-time job. Still, the sooner I'm working 9-5 again the happier I'll be.

Went out to dinner with P and RS at the Hard Times, and while the chili was as good as I remember, the onion rings were disappointing, almost completely missing the flaky breading I remember. :S

Tomorrow I'll swing by, see Mom and my niece (if she's not out working), maybe touch base with some other folks, and get started on applying for some jobs with the Feds. I'd still like to get a job teaching in PG County or Frederick County with a provisional license, but I have to face facts - if they haven't called by now, they probably aren't going to.

I HAVE RETURNED.

*takes off MacArthur metamask*

Well...I'm in Virginia, laying over for a couple of nights at the Hampton Inn south of Dulles, and about to start hunting for an apartment and a job after touching base with family and friends. The apartment is the first priority - can't really do a lot of the things I need to do without a permanent address, and I have enough of a financial cushion that I can go for a while without a full-time job. Still, the sooner I'm working 9-5 again the happier I'll be.

Went out to dinner with P and RS at the Hard Times, and while the chili was as good as I remember, the onion rings were disappointing, almost completely missing the flaky breading I remember. :S

Tomorrow I'll swing by, see Mom and my niece (if she's not out working), maybe touch base with some other folks, and get started on applying for some jobs with the Feds. I'd still like to get a job teaching in PG County or Frederick County with a provisional license, but I have to face facts - if they haven't called by now, they probably aren't going to.